Employing the complex adaptive systems (CAS) model, the present case study provides a self-report description of the attitudes, perceptions and experiences of an advanced adult L2 English learner with respect to his L2 phonological attainment. CAS is predicated on the notion that an individual's cognitive processes are intricately related to his…

This paper presents the results of how four dyads in an online task-based synchronous computer-mediated (TB-SCMC) interaction event use their agency to carry out speaking tasks, and how their choices and actions affect time spent interacting in the target language. A case study approach was employed to analyse the language functions and cognitive…

This study was an attempt to assess how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) improved their speaking fluency in a task-based language teaching (TBLT) approach used with ninth-grade learners at PUNIV-Cazenga, a high school in Luanda. In a case study design that used picture-description tasks, learners' speeches were audio recorded before…

The wide use of English has given rise to the World Englishes (WE) paradigm, within which there has been a growing interest in the pedagogical implications of the varieties of English. A frequently documented rationale for the marriage between second language education and WE is that WE users should be aware of the potential problems in WE…

This paper examines explicitness in English as lingua franca (ELF) spoken interactions. Using a conversation analysis procedure, about 11h of audio-recorded naturally occuring ELF interactions of 79 incoming Erasmus students were analyzed for this purpose. The corpus was compiled by means of 54 speech events, 29 interviews and 25 focus group…

This study aims to promote English pre-service teachers' speaking ability by integrating task-based learning (TBL) and the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2001) in designing an innovative program (the CEFR-TBL). This presentation discusses the results of an investigation of the preservice teachers' speaking ability using peer-interview technique. Also,…

Infants in their first year manifest selective patterns of discrimination between languages and between accents of the same language. Prosodic differences are held to be important in whether languages can be discriminated, together with the infant's familiarity with one or both of the accents heard. However, the nature of the prosodic cues that…

This research investigated how teachers express links between ideas in speech, gestures, and other modalities in middle school mathematics instruction. We videotaped 18 lessons (3 from each of 6 teachers), and within each, we identified "linking episodes"--segments of discourse in which the teacher connected mathematical ideas. For each…

This study investigated Chinese test takers' attitudes towards the Versant English Test (VET), an automated spoken English test developed by Pearson Knowledge Technologies. Based on previous attitudinal studies, 'attitude' in this study was conceptualized as a hypothetical psychological construct which consisted of three components: beliefs,…

Research on immediate effects of background television during mother-infant toy play shows that an operating television in the room disrupts maternal communicative behaviors crucial for infants' vocabulary acquisition. This study is the first to examine associations between frequent background TV/video exposure during mother-infant toy play at…

Actuality of studying of an issue on specific manifestations of a monologue speech type in bilingual schoolchildren with stutter has been stipulated by the necessity of elaboration of a constituent concept on central mechanisms underlying this kind of communication disorder, on the nature of disturbances of speech formation mechanisms in the…

This study examines the manifestations of purity and authenticity in 47 Basque bilinguals' reactions to code-switching. The respondents listened to two speech extracts with code-switching, filled in a short questionnaire and talked about the extracts in small groups. These conversations were then recorded. The respondents' beliefs can be…

Which conditional verb forms proved most difficult for Thai secondary school students to produce, and what errors resulted in written and spoken English, were studied. Data was collected from two tasks: 1) a gap-fill task by 68 twelfth-grade students in an integrated English program at a public high school in Bangkok, Thailand and 2) a spoken task…

Purpose: This archival investigation examined the relationship between preliteracy speech sound production skill (SSPS) and spelling in Grade 3 using a dataset in which children's receptive vocabulary was generally within normal limits, speech therapy was not provided until Grade 2, and phonological awareness instruction was discouraged at the…

Large first-year biology classes, with their heavy emphasis on factual content, contribute to low student engagement and misrepresent the dynamic, interdisciplinary nature of biological science. We sought to redesign a course to deliver fundamental biology curriculum through the study of health, promote skills development, and encourage a deeper…